Don't Call Me Incomplete
by Spunkt
Summary: The child from Gren's pictures in haunted by a twisted past he can't remember, and it plagues his life even as the head of The Red Dragon. The search for his identity, and what Gren has to do with it, is on.
1. Missing

I tried posting this as a story already, but I realized it had way too many plot holes and was lacking content. So I destroyed it and recently began working on it again.  
  
This chapter is a prologue of sorts, basically giving some background and setting up the main part as a good prologue should ^^. The story is about the child in Gren's photographs that can be seen in Jupiter Jazz part one. More notes about this at the bottom.  
  
Disclaimer - I don't own Cowboy Bebop. But the plot is MIYUN.  
  
Words in -'s are thinking. Stupid document manager.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
A silent figure moved through the halls without a sound, dodging the dim light given off from the lamps outside every room. The figure carried a large bundle in its arms and wore a hood to cover its face.  
  
-Will you ever be free? Will you ever be normal?-  
  
The institution was a cramped place and yet surprisingly easy to escape from if you tried. No one ever did because they were either mentally inept, or guarded heavily. Planning an escape had taken months, but a clean getaway was worth it.  
  
Gren lost his footing momentarily, and the bundle stirred.  
  
"Mommy?" a little boy's voice asked.  
  
"Shhh," Gren answered, "go back to sleep."  
  
Holding closer the bundle that was his child, the man silently opened a door to the outside world and picked up the pace. Running at a sprint, they weaved a path through a thick forest which eventually opened up into a clearing where a vessel was waiting.  
  
"That'll be 3,000 woulongs mac, for the remote location that is," the driver said.  
  
"I'm sorry, but I have no money. Forgive me."  
  
The driver fell to the floor, knocked unconscious. Gren carefully placed his child in the passenger seat, and sat down to fly the ship.  
  
"Mommy, where are we going?" the boy asked, quite awake.  
  
"Far away. Where no one can hurt us." Gren comforted the boy.  
  
"Promise?"  
  
"Promise."  
  
*~*~*~*  
  
-Escaping the institution was a risk I knew I had to take; I couldn't stand watching my son be confined all his short life. I am his... mother... and I want him to live a normal life, away from all of this.  
  
They had fooled with my gender and my identity, giving me drugs that soon led to noticeable changes in my biological makeup. I grew breasts and a sack inside my stomach that resembled a womb. The side effects of these powerful drugs included slight memory loss, vomiting, and weight loss. I was utterly miserable for years.  
  
I was artificially impregnated at the institution, and was soon moved to a smaller area that resembled a hospital for test subjects. Being that I was still essentially a man, bearing a child was fascinating to them and they kept a close watch on me to make sure their drugs were working. The normal stages of pregnancy were agonizing for me mentally and physically.  
  
After painful surgery, I had my son, Raishuka. I was disgusted to have been their guinea pig, and wanted nothing to do with the child. My heart changed when I was well enough to hold him, those monsters were humane enough to let me do that. I fell in love with the son I had produced, even if it was artificial and I wasn't sure who in god's name the donor egg had come from. The institute kept us there for two years, running tests on us, especially on Rai. They gave him drugs to increase his intelligence, alertness, development, anything they fancied. At the age of 14 months, he was already able to read and write, and his physical development was above average as well. Those bastards were taking years off his life with those drugs, and robbing him of his childhood.  
  
This was not the life I wanted for my son, so I decided to make a run for it. Everything was planned weeks in advnace, but I had to keep it from Rai so I would not scare or worry him in any way.  
  
Once we had thrown the prison off our trail, our lives were still far from normal, running around a lot and constantly moving. Rai never had any friends because he had to constantly switch schools. His teachers did notice his maturity and intelligence, and often commented that I was raising a fine son. He always called me mommy, never once catching on to what I really was. I made sure no one else did either, keeping to myself most of the time, finding comfort only in Rai and my love for the saxophone.  
  
Now I think I have finally found a happy home for us on one of Jupiter's satellites. Everyone here seems so happy, it will hopefully turn out to be the perfect home for Raishuka. No one can find us here, we can be happy at last.-  
  
~*~*~*~*  
  
The sun shone brightly through the window, stirring the young boy out of his slumber. Raishuka rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes, and rose from his bed to wake his mother.  
  
"Mommy! Mommy wake up!" Rai said.  
  
"Nnnnn."  
  
"Time for school!" Rai ran out of the room to grab his school uniform.  
  
Gren sat up in bed and smiled as his son brought back clothes that did not match. He silently guided the little boy back to his room and helped him get dressed. After making sure Rai had begun his breakfast, Gren went back to his own room to put on a baggy ensemble of sweatpants and a sweatshirt before returning to the kitchen.  
  
The two climbed into the small car that Gren owned and drove the five miles to Rai's school simply listening to the radio without saying a word. Upon arriving, the little boy gave his mother a kiss goodbye before running to join his friends inside the building.  
  
Some of the other children's mothers waved to Gren from their positions in front of the cars as he left. The mothers usually gathered in front of the school to chat about current events, gossip from inside the school, etc. Gren was often a topic of their gossip, the other women wondered why 'she' never joined them or helped out at the school. Rai was an extremely talented boy who was known throughout the school for his high intelligence. He had been going to the school for three whole years, and no one knew a thing about his mother.  
  
Gren wouldn't let them find out who he was, he couldn't even allow them to know him too well. If *they* were to start looking for him again, it would make the process that much faster, and he could not let them find him. He did not want to loose his son.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"People don't just disappear for two years." The old dragonhead said.  
  
"We are looking for him, sir." An officer replied meekly.  
  
"We paid those scientists millions of woulongs to create that child, we need him back now," the man's voice became harsh.  
  
"When we find him, we will bring him back here, sir." The officer said.  
  
"And what of his parent? What do you plan to do with him?"  
  
"A bounty has already been placed on his head as an escaped prisoner, sir."  
  
"Good. Now get the boy here within the week or it'll be your head."  
  
"Yes, sir." The officer stumbled and ran off to disperse the men under his command.  
  
~*~*~*~*  
  
Gren arrived home from picking Raishuka up from school and opened the door to his home, not noticing the crafts hovering high overhead. Upon walking through the door, he paused and looked around. His years of serving in the army had tuned his senses, and at that moment, they were telling him to be on his guard.  
  
"What's wrong mommy?" Rai asked, clutching on to Gren's shirt.  
  
"Nothing baby, just stay behind me."  
  
Grabbing an umbrella from the nearby stand, Gren stepped slowly towards the kitchen, looking for any signs of a robber. Everything was in its place, but he checked the cupboards just in case. He concluded that no one was in the kitchen and told Rai to wait there and not move.  
  
Gren moved silently towards his bedroom, umbrella still in hand. He looked under his bed and in his closet, but found no signs of forced entry.  
  
-Maybe I'm just loosing it.- he thought as he closed the door to his closet.  
  
Just then Raishuka's screams were heard from the kitchen.  
  
Gren ran as fast as he could back to the kitchen, but Rai wasn't there. His panic growing, he ran into the adjacent living room.  
  
-How could I forget to check the living room! Please no, please be okay.-  
  
He ran through the doorway and saw a man in black trying to keep his grip on Raishuka. The poor boy was kicking and biting, doing anything he could to get free.  
  
"Hey! Let him go!" Gren raised the umbrella over his head in a threatening manner.  
  
"Don't even try." The man in black pulled out a gun and put it to Raishuka's head.  
  
Rai immediately stopped kicking and became limp in the man's arms, whimpering softly. He tried to fight back tears, but they soon flowed freely down his cheeks.  
  
"Mommy."  
  
"Shut up!" his captor yelled.  
  
"Please, I'll give you anything! Just don't hurt him!" Gren said, dropping the umbrella.  
  
"I don't want to hurt him. The Red Dragon told me to take him back alive, Gren," the man said.  
  
"How do you know my name?" Gren began.  
  
"Mommy.."  
  
"And what does The Red Dragon have to do with it?!" Gren cried.  
  
"They have ordered me to bring him back, his high intelligence is of interest to the syndicate." The man snickered.  
  
"Please no."  
  
"One more step and he dies." The unknown syndicate officer said.  
  
"Mom.mommy."  
  
"Say goodbye, Gren." The man said.  
  
Gren swallowed hard and tried to look his son in the eyes.  
  
". Goodbye Raishuka. I love you."  
  
"No mommy. please don't let him take me!" Rai cried.  
  
"I'm so sorry baby."  
  
The man left through the front door with Raishuka in his arms, Gren following close behind, tears stinging his eyes.  
  
"Please don't do this to me..." Gren began.  
  
The officer stopped and turned around to face the desperate man. He raised his weapon and shot Gren in his left shoulder. The wounded man fell to the floor in pain, but raised his head enough to see his child for the last time.  
  
Raishuka reached his small arms out to his mother, tears blinding his vision.  
  
"You promised." the child said before being thrown into a waiting ship.  
  
Gren watched the ship fly away. He slowly stood up, and walked back inside his house. After dressing his wound, he hastily threw all of his essential belongings into a backpack, which he slung over his unharmed shoulder.  
  
-I can't stay here anymore.-  
  
Grabbing his treasured saxophone, he ran out to the spacecraft he had stolen all those years ago, and prayed it still worked.  
  
-I don't deserve to live, I couldn't even protect my son.-  
  
"Hold it right there!" an unfamiliar voice called from behind Gren, shaking the man from his thoughts. "You better come with me buddy."  
  
Gren turned around to see what appeared to be a bounty hunter pointing a gun right at him.  
  
"I'm not worth anything." Gren said.  
  
"Actually, you are worth fifty million wouloungs. Might as well come quietly, you already look hurt." The bounty hunter said, snickering.  
  
Shooting the man a dirty look, Gren gave in and allowed himself to be carried off to the nearby police station. He figured he had nothing left to live for, and was numb for the entire first year he was in prison. He was back where he had started, he even recognized some of the guards. It was as if he had never met Raishuka, as if there was a hole in 6 years of his life.  
  
Gren fell into depression and soon easily broke out of prison again and moved to Calisto, where no one would ever bother him. He did drugs to ease the pain, but they did terrible things to his health. He always kept pictures of Raishuka around, but as time passed, he grew numb to the effect they had on his emotions. The songs he played on his sax were always genuinely sad and that much more depressing and beautiful.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Meanwhile, the syndicate used Raishuka for their own benefit. They erased his memory and trained him to become a high ranked officer in the Red Dragon. They even gave him a new name: Kiyen. By the time he was 15, he already had thousands of men working under him. His extremely high intelligence combined with the large amount of woulongs spent on his training made him one of the most celebrated officers in the entire syndicate.  
  
Kiyen became the leader of the Red Dragon at the age of 19, after the 'bloody revolution' had finally ended. After Vicious had slain the elders, and then gotten himself killed by a man named Spike Spiegel, countless no- names tried to take over. Each person was less successful than before, and finally Kiyen proclaimed himself the leader.  
  
The boy who was now undoubtedly a man enjoyed his comfortable life, but could never sleep while over Jupiter. He would walk around his room trying to fill in the memories of his own life that were painfully incomplete. Never able to solve the mystery of his identity, Ki (for short) got frustrated easily and gave up. He was happy and well respected, and felt no need to search for a home that had probably forgotten him.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
That is chapter one, a very short prologue. Tell me what you think so far, reviews are highly appreciated.  
  
More on the ideas for this story: In Jupiter Jazz, part one, Faye examines pictures on Gren's wall while he is in the shower. There are a few picture of a little boy, and in one picture, Gren is holding the little boy and wearing a dress. Raishuka/Kiyen is, for this story, the little boy in those photographs.  
  
The rest of the story will continue as Kiyen searches for his past and develops as a person. He just might run into some old bebop characters, but only if I can make it sound un-hokey.  
  
REVIEW XD 


	2. Welcome to Earth

Next chapter of this story. I'm sorry it took a while, but that's just the way I am with this story. I take time to write this and won't post unless it's perfect seeing as it's my first bebop fic.  
  
So, sorry for the wait.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Don't Call Me Incomplete  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
The thing about space is that you never know what time it is. There is no sun to rise and fall, and the stars are always out. Just eat when you're hungry, and sleep when you're tired. You can keep a watch or a clock, but you'll just have to change it when you arrive on a new planet or satellite. Such a tiresome way to live, adjusting to different times wherever you go.  
  
Perhaps this is the reason most people prefer to settle down somewhere and have a constant time factor in their lives. They have a time for waking, working, eating, sleeping, and doing it all over again. Their days are long or short, depending where they live. To some, this life is taken for granted and to others, it is coveted.  
  
Kiyen paced back and forth in the control room as the commanding pilot waited for his leader's instructions.  
  
The 'bloody revolution' from just over a decade ago had left the Red Dragon syndicate open and vulnerable to the police. Seeing as how they could never imagine of destroying the syndicate before, they saw this as their chance to put an end to the crimes the syndicate was responsible for. By the time Kiyen had become the head of the Red Dragon, the police had already gained the upper hand, often destroying the syndicate's smaller ships.  
  
With Kiyen in place as a strong leader, the police had been thrown off their trail and were desperate to get it back. Accordingly, whenever the police made a threat, as they were doing right now, the enormous syndicate ship would 'disappear' for a few days at least, just to throw the police off once more.  
  
"Sir? Your orders?" The captain asked Kiyen.  
  
"... Earth." Ki answered.  
  
"But sir, hiding on the dark side of that planet is too risky because of hackers..." The captain started.  
  
"I know the risks, captain! I am perfectly capable of handling any hackers myself, so there is no risk. To Earth!... unless you want to be publicly executed if we are caught by those damned police?" Kiyen barked.  
  
"No, sir. Sorry for questioning you, sir!" The captain said squeamishly and set the ship's course for Earth.  
  
Kiyen straightened his long, black overcoat and exited the control room in a brisk walk. He scowled, creating wrinkles in his young face. He'd be damned if that pathetic police force retained a grip of the Red Dragon, especially after all the hard work he had done to throw them off.  
  
He remembered having to send men as spies into the police force, organizing elaborate drug schemes to scare them off, and remembered personally hacking into their database and trashing files. Some of his men came back in body bags, some of the drug money was lost, and it took him three pots of coffee to get around all those firewalls. But they had more gains than losses, and the police were relearning that the Red Dragon was untouchable.  
  
Wanting to rather be safe than sorry, Kiyen stayed away from the police whenever possible, never wanting them to even think they had him. They even had the balls to put a bounty on his head. Kiyen snickered. Like any lowly bounty hunter could ever catch him, not even the Martian Secret Service could touch a hair on his head.  
  
Finally arriving to his quarters, Kiyen sighed and plopped down on an overstuffed sofa that was adorned in cloths of the finest silk. A red cloth, prompted to fall after he landed on the sofa, drifted overhead, threatening to land on him.  
  
His eyes went wide as he was thrown into the past. He remembered the red flags on the handles of the swords he was trained with as a child. He remembered the red banners that hung from the ceiling at a celebration the syndicate hosted. He remembered the scarlet blood that flowed from the three elders the day they were slain by Vicious. He remembered the blood dripping down the hand of a body being carried onto the ship.  
  
Ki was flung back into the present, the red cloth landing on his face. He quickly removed it and tossed it to the side. His memories were so vivid... being exposed to all that blood at such a young age. He had always been waited on patiently by numerous officers. He was well fed, trained heavily, and built up to be an upstanding young man.  
  
He scratched his head, but couldn't remember anything from before being a part of this syndicate. He didn't remember anyone being his mother or father, didn't remember a novel childhood that he would read about in books. He never had friends, only acquaintances with people much older than him. But he had always been thirsty for more knowledge, more challenges... he was always praised and placed on a high pedestal.  
  
And he was always okay with that. Working hard to gain approval and working his way up through the ranks... that was always what his life had been like. Yet he had seen his men with their families, how happy they were. That was the thing Kiyen had always lacked, real people his age to enjoy. It was always about work for him, even as a child.  
  
"But look at the empire I have restored." Kiyen told himself as he stood up to glance out the window and into space. He paced over to the window and faced outwards, admiring the sight of stars flying by as the ship sped towards Earth.  
  
Suddenly, the doors to his quarters slid open and a tall, blonde man walked in. He wore a black suit with a short black overcoat, golden tassel near the top. Typical dress of a higher officer in the Red Dragon.  
  
"Kiyen, the way you run this place is revolting." The blonde man said with a smirk on his face.  
  
"Oh? And you would have things differently, Ace?" Kiyen asked, slightly amused.  
  
"Definitely. A large group of men with an unnecessarily huge amount of firearms and explosives would be on their way to the main Martian police station right now to teach them a lesson about threatening the Red Dragon." Ace answered with the wave of his hand.  
  
"Destroying people senselessly is not our objective here." Kiyen said sternly.  
  
"But what better way to restore this syndicate's name and prominence? Physical threat and destruction will send the message loud and clear." Ace explained, walking to stand next to Kiyen.  
  
"If the message you wish to send is that we are beginning a bloody regime, then your plan would work. But if we simply want to keep the police out of our hair while continuing to bring in the billions we do, having to go through the minor inconvenience of moving around every now and then really doesn't seem like a big deal." Kiyen preached. "I know you may not understand the words coming out of my mouth, but try to put our five year age difference aside."  
  
"You seem to forget that you are the younger one." Ace said defiantly, turning to watch the stars go by as well.  
  
Kiyen shrugged, a smug expression plastered on his face.  
  
Ace, unlike Kiyen, had joined the syndicate on his own free will as a fleeing teenager. Angry at his parents and with no place to call home, he sought to work in the syndicate, which provided him with housing, an education, and a promising future. He was always the top of his class in the syndicate's school, but always fell behind Kiyen when it came to privileges.  
  
From the day he had joined the Red Dragon, Ace knew he was destined for great things. He set his sights high, wishing to one day be the leader of the entire syndicate. His dreams were almost reality when the bloody revolution occurred. He waited for the right moment to take control, but just as that moment came, it was stolen away by Kiyen.  
  
He loathed the younger man, loathed the way he ran this place. But he accepted the offer Kiyen had made, making Ace a sort of second-in-command to some extent. Should Kiyen be unable to remain leader, it was written that Ace should then take over those duties. Ace felt slightly warmed by the kind gesture Kiyen had made, but his hunger for power was hard to conceal.  
  
"You are too militaristic, Ace. Anything can be solved with guns and bloodshed, but many can be wisely solved if you think of an alternative."  
  
"... You are right. I must leave you now, I have work to do." Ace bowed his head slightly turned on his heel, exiting through the doors from which he came.  
  
Kiyen chuckled and waltzed towards his desk, plopping down in his comfortable swivel chair. He typed a few pointless memos into his computer, but quickly grew tired of the work. He reclined and placed both feet on his desk and both hands behind his head. Despite the fact that there was an extremely comfortable bed just in the next room, he decided to sleep right there at his desk, computer screen still on.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
About a half-our later, the Red Dragon ship reached the barren wasteland called Earth and fell into the planet's orbit. The planet was now home to only those who remembered what is was like before the destruction, and their families. The fallen buildings, the constant meteors, the fruitless land... the planet was such a wasteland. The only thing keeping its inhabitants there was a lack of a way out, or their memories.  
  
No one dealt with that place anymore, a perfect place to go if you're on the run. Thieves, murderers, hackers, all found sanctuary in this place. The Red Dragon was far from being categorized as 'on the run', but staying near Earth was the best move in their leader's mind.  
  
A beep came out of the phone on Kiyen's desk, followed by a stern male voice.  
  
"Sir, we've reached Earth." The voice said.  
  
Kiyen opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling before planting his feet back on the floor, causing him to go forward into a normal sitting position in the chair. He stretched and put a hand through his dark hair, ruffling it slightly.  
  
"Thank you." Kiyen answered and the phone turned off.  
  
After rubbing his eyes, his fingers went automatically to his computer in order to check if everything on the ship was running smoothly. His large computer screen woke up from sleep mode and began running a check of the entire ship, carefully placed cameras surveying the crew. Kiyen sat back and watched his brilliant computer run all the checks. He looked to the bottom left corner and saw something purple on his screen. He leaned forward and looked at it closer. It seemed to be a purple... whale. A purple whale was watching his screen.  
  
"What the...?" Kiyen said as he reached to run an anti-virus program.  
  
The whale saw the program being run and turned around to face Kiyen. It's eyes went wide and it dived back into the screen and disappeared.  
  
"Oh no you don't!" Kiyen feverishly went to work on the keyboard, tracking the source of that weird creature. He figured it to be a police hacker trying to get into his system.  
  
He finally found the source, a transmitter from Earth. He logged on to this hacker's screen and a visual window turned on. The words "NOTORIOUS EDWARD" flashed in the new window and a live video feed of a girl with red hair came on. The purple whale stayed on the bottom on the window, looking at Kiyen.  
  
"Hey, what's the big idea?" The girl said, hands on her hips. Some more weirdly colored animals decorated the screen.  
  
"You hacked into *my* system, shouldn't I be the one asking questions?" Kiyen asked, slightly aggravated.  
  
The girl leaned in closer, giving Kiyen a better view of her face.  
  
"I was just curious! I meant no harm. Bye-bye!" The girl smiled and the window closed.  
  
Kiyen typed frantically, trying to get the signal back. But the girl had blocked him out and he could not find the source for the life of him. He made his computer print up a report with the girl's picture and her location on a paper. He called Ace on his phone.  
  
"Ace, I need a crew to capture a hacker right away! Get your best men." Kiyen barked into a phone. He faxed the paper over to Ace's office.  
  
"May I ask what is so urgent?" Ace asked coolly.  
  
"A hacker got through, she might have gotten her hands on some information. Capture her and bring her along with her equipment here." He explained.  
  
"You're slipping." Was all Ace said before hanging up.  
  
Kiyen sighed and turned his chair to stare out the large window. A few minutes later, he saw a small ship deploy and head towards the Earth. He would catch this girl and find out what she knows. Her hacking skills were advanced, perhaps he could even use her...  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
That's the end for this chapter. Getting exciting? Hope so. I worked very hard on this chapter, and hope you enjoyed it. All two of you. -_- 


	3. Enter the Girl

So I'm not really sure what prompted my return to fanfic. Probably because I just saw Jupiter Jazz at a friend's house and it reminded me of this story I abandoned. I was watching the episodes and saw that picture of Gren with the child. There is no way that those pictures are of Gren as a kid, I mean, who keeps baby pictures of themselves? No one I know. So I decided that my story is still awesome and could fit very well into the real episodes. So there.  
  
Don't Call Me Incomplete  
  
The dozen or so men filed out of the small syndicate craft in a perfect, uptight manner, followed by Ace. Unlike his men, Ace casually strolled out of the ship with a tracking device in hand, a smug expression plastered on his face. He turned a few knobs slightly and stared intently at the screen for a few minutes. His men stood silently, guns on their shoulders, patiently waiting for their orders like well-trained dogs.  
  
A light blinked on Ace's screen, roughly 100 meters south of where they stood. He dropped the device into his pocket and walked over to face his men.  
  
"Needless to say, I want this done quickly. The hacker is a female with red hair, aged in the early twenties, and was seen with green goggles covering her eyes. It is important to Kiyen that you capture this hacker, it is important to your leader. If you fail this mission, you fail your leader. Understood?" Ace conducted.  
  
The group shouted, "Yes sir" all at once.  
  
"Good," Ace continued. "100 meters south. You know what to do. Now, go!"  
  
The men dispersed quickly and Ace retreated to the ship to wait for his prized men to do their business so that they could leave this godforsaken planet.  
  
Within mere minutes, the men were on top of the location, searching every square millimeter for their suspect. The terrain was simply miles of garbage all heaped together into the biggest trash can in the universe. There was a time when you could at least see the ground of this planet, but now it was just dumping ground for everyone else's garbage. A few tense moments passed by with no luck, and the men grew anxious.  
  
Meanwhile, a red haired girl hid behind a mountain of trash dangerously close to the syndicate's men. Goggles pulled back into her long, wavy hair and heavy equipment strapped to her back, she panted slightly from the running she had been doing ever since she first caught sight of the men. Silently she tried to dodge towards another high heap of garbage without being seen.  
  
-Jeez, get caught hacking into one measly syndicate computer and suddenly you're the bad guy. Sheesh.-  
  
Unfortunately for her, one of the officers saw the flash of red and called for the rest to charge at the girl. They stormed her from all sides, guns pointed straight at her head. The girl knew she was cornered, and raised her hands in defeat. She smirked and looked at the men around her.  
  
"So, what seems to be the problem, boys?" She said softly, tilting her hips.  
  
"Radical Edward, you have committed crimes against the Red Dragon. Hand over your computer and come with us quietly." One of the officers said.  
  
Ed knew her learned tactics of womanly charm would not work on these hardened men. Sighing, she handed over her beloved computer to an outstretched arm and allowed herself to be cuffed and marched to the waiting syndicate ship. She had had brushes with the law before, but never with the Red Dragon. Well aware of what they were capable of, she knew putting up a fight was useless. Maybe if she could keep her cool she would be able to escape this, in her mind, ridiculous capture still alive.  
  
The ride back to the main ship was a short one, but it felt a lot longer to Ed. She was kept in a small containment room by herself. There were no windows, no way of telling where she was. After what seemed to be many hours, she felt the ship come to a rest and heard many mechanical groans as doors opened and closed letting the ship in and such. At last, her door was opened, but not by one of the men who had captured her. Ed blinked from the sudden burst of light, and looked up into blue eyes.  
  
"So you are this brilliant hacker I had to come all the way out here to catch? You didn't put up much of a fight." The blonde commander said.  
  
"If a dozen guns were pointed at your head, would you?" Ed snapped back from her position on the floor.  
  
Ace glared down at her with piercing eyes and thin lips. Suddenly, he smirked and helped the handcuffed girl up onto her feet.  
  
"Well you're smart, that's for sure. Smart enough to keep your mouth shut maybe..?" He said, leading her out of the ship and into a waiting elevator.  
  
Ed decided to heed the man's warnings and did keep herself quiet as she was towed through a series of halls and rooms until they eventually stopped in front of two large doors. Ace swiftly took off her handcuffs and placed them in his pocket. Ed rubbed her wrists and the doors in front of her swung open.  
  
Beautiful tapestries adorned the walls and fresh flowers decorated the numerous tables along the walls and by the many sofa and places to sit. A small fountain flowed in the corner, the splashing of the water being the only sound in the large room.  
  
"Kiyen! We recovered the hacker at your request. Here she is." Ace said and looked around for Kiyen to appear.  
  
The raven haired man appeared from another door, dark eyes glancing around the room until they rested on the girl. He immediately recognized her and strolled towards the flowing red hair. She wore a tight black tank top with a loose white shirt over it, tight black shorts down to her knees.  
  
"Welcome," Kiyen began, "to the Red Dragon. You might remember me from our little encounter, Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky 4th."  
  
Ed looked at the familiar man, shocked.  
  
"Yes I have done research on you while you were on your way here. Supreme hacker based on Earth, used to be in cahoots with a couple of bounty hunters, right? But that was lifetimes ago, you've had many years on Earth since then. Hacking into the biggest, most complicated systems you could find, usually without leaving a trace. Just a long list of confused computer programmers in your wake. Very impressive. But you would never do anything with the information you got your hands on. You only explored and then left." Kiyen said this while looking her right in the eye.  
  
"Okay, so you did your homework, like I care, you stupid syndicate slave. You know I never do anything with my skills, why would you come after me?" She spat.  
  
"Just in case." He said, keeping his cool even as she spoke to him disrespectfully. "Plus seeing as I am one of the few people to ever trace you, I wanted to meet you face to face. My name is Kiyen, I am the head of the Red Dragon." He extended his hand to her.  
  
"The... the head of the syndicate? You? But you're so young! And what would the head of the Red Dragon be doing personally tracking me down?" She asked, not accepting his gesture.  
  
"I run all the computers here, it is my specialty." He grinned.  
  
"Really? Wonderful job if I do say so myself! When I was looking around, cracking into everything was difficult, took me days to figure out! You run it like a true pro!" Ed said, suddenly overwhelmed by childish giddiness.  
  
"Why thank you." Kiyen answered. "Did you like the super firewall around the third layer I built from scratch? It is one of my more advanced defenses." He said, getting quite giddy himself. It was rare that he could talk about his personal accomplishments in the computers with someone else who understood.  
  
"It was okay, nothing too special. The maze I encountered further in really shocked me. There were so many possibilities and I had to do it all through trial and error, it took forever!" She exclaimed, smiling slightly.  
  
"Ahem." Ace said, obviously annoyed with the conversation. "I'm glad you are making friends, Ki, but I have a lot of work to do. Shall I take her to her cell?"  
  
"No, it's alright, Ace. I'll take care of it." Kiyen answered.  
  
"Whatever." Ace said, tossing Kiyen the handcuffs before exiting the room, quite annoyed by Kiyen's behavior in front of this girl.  
  
Kiyen cleared his throat and tried to resume a more formal stance.  
  
"So, Edward..."  
  
"Just Ed."  
  
"Right, Ed. You hacked into my system. There is valuable information in there that I cannot risk getting out. You might know it, so something needs to be done about this." He looked at her, and she lost the smile she had on previously. This obviously brilliant girl who he had taken a fast liking to didn't deserve a cell in his mind.  
  
"If you're going to kill me, just do it." She stared at him, fearless. Her eyes were fierce and her expression the polar opposite of the happy one she had on just a few moments earlier.  
  
"Well, I was going to give you a choice." He said with a smirk. "Either I send you down to the cells to rot, or you stay here with me. Show me how you hacked into my system, I'm quite curious."  
  
Ed looked at him in disbelief.  
  
"Can't you just let me go?" She asked, slightly upset.  
  
"No can do. Either you go down to our holding facilities or stay up here and work for me. It's your choice."  
  
She sat there and thought for a few minutes, weighing the consequences of her options. Kiyen stood over her those tense moments, eagerly waiting for an answer. Finally, she looked up to him.  
  
"Even though I really only work alone, I choose to work for you." She said half-heartedly.  
  
"Good answer." Kiyen said and put on his trademark smirk.  
  
Ed looked around her room with an odd fascination. While it was nothing compared to the previous room she had been with Kiyen in, it was still the most amazing place she had ever stayed in her life. A comfortably large bedroom complete with a queen size bed, large desk, and the same kind of tapestries she had seen earlier was more than she could have ever imagined.  
  
"This is where you'll be staying, I trust you'll find it more comfortable than your residence on Earth." Kiyen said. "I'll send your computer up and give you time to settle in before we get to work. Oh," he pointed to a camera in the corner, "though I doubt you would try anything, just in case, I will be watching. See you soon." He waved slightly and left the room, door closing behind him.  
  
Ed sat down on the bed and put her head in her hands.  
  
"Great, I really did it now. I though I might get caught hacking one day, but I never thought I would be spending the rest of my life working for this stupid syndicate." She pulled a picture out of her shirt. "Oh, Ein. What would you think of me now?" She sighed and put the picture of herself and Ein, with Spike, Faye, and Jet in the background, aside.  
  
The door swooshed open, and a man carrying Ed's computer walked in briskly and placed the computer on the large empty desk in front of her. As soon as he left, Ed pounced on her prized possession and checked it over for any damage. It passed the test, and she promptly pulled out a cord to plug it into the wall. The machine had barely turned on before the door opened again, this time two men came in together. One man placed a platter of various foods on the table before swiftly leaving again, and the other man presented a new Red Dragon uniform to Ed.  
  
"Is this supposed to be for me?" Ed asked the man.  
  
"Yes. All syndicate employees are required to wear them." The man answered and pushed the uniform into her hands.  
  
Ed looked down at the black clothing in her hands. Then she stared at the man who had presented her with the uniform.  
  
"What? Are you going to stay here and watch me get dressed?" She asked the now flustered man.  
  
The man blushed slightly and shook his head before fumbling out of the room. Ed sighed and threw the uniform on the bed, she had already made up her mind not to wear it. She didn't want to feel like a part of this syndicate, she didn't want to be an 'employee' or anything like that. She didn't even want to be in the stupid ship. She wondered if getting killed might have been a better option.  
  
Her computer booted up and began running her default programs, and Ed absentmindedly munched on the food that had been brought to her while she watched her machine do it's magic. She immediately began working in the syndicate's systems where she had been before her capture. Once she had gotten in before, it was easy to find her way back. She typed Kiyen's name into the employee database.  
  
"Alright, Kiyen. You already know so much about me, let's see what we can learn about you." She said to the screen. "Oh yea, almost forgot..." She said while opening a new window. She quickly hacked into the security system and found the camera that was looking into her room. With a simple flick of the wrist, she turned it off through the program without sending a distress signal to give her away.  
  
The computer hummed as it pulled up the information Ed requested. Numerous animals coupled with yellow smiley faces danced across the screen in a synchronized fashion. Ed read about Kiyen's training, his report cards, everything about his life in the syndicate. File after file of his accomplishments went through her mind, but she found it all to be very boring.  
  
"Alright, so you're a brain child that the syndicate spent countless dollars on training, big deal. What really makes you so special?" She clicked out of a passage detailing his weapon training and yawned, looking off at the opposite wall.  
  
One of the faces on the screen flashed around, trying to get her attention. She peered at it curiously. It brought up a file that seemed unlike the rest, and she dove into it with her full attention. But no matter what she did, she could not open the file. Frustrated, she pulled up the file's label information, and was flabbergasted with what she read.  
  
The file was closed many years ago, without any way to get back in. Not even the creator of the file had any intent of getting back into it; it was locked up for good. Under no circumstances was the file to be opened. Ed cocked her head to the side and wondered why such a file even existed. Why document something if it was never meant to be read?  
  
"Ohh, must be a really good secret!" Ed said, exciting herself over the file. She got ready to try crack it's code just as the door to her room shwooshed open.  
  
Kiyen walked through the door, and he didn't look too happy.  
  
Finally, another chapter finished. A long one too. I like how the story is going. Who knows? I might just finish it. 


End file.
